minimum wage

It’s one thing when bad trade deals result in outsourced jobs. That’s bad enough. But it’s even worse when states compete for jobs by using under-paid labor to lure businesses to relocate. That’s precisely what Florida Governor Rick Scott is trying to do – and proudly – in his current visit to California.

Just weeks after California and New York voted to increase their minimum wages to $15/hour the Fight for 15 movement was already back on the streets demanding that all Americans have access to $15/hour by 2022. All told, workers in over 300 cities were expected to protest in favor of a national pay raise and the right to unionize on Thursday. Why has the movement been so successful?

As we head into our holiday vacations and time with family, we are often reminded of those who are less fortunate. We can't forget about the continuing battle to raise the minimum wage to $15 and hour, and this video of a mother and her child is a stark reminder of how immediate the need is. Her struggle is just one of countless similar stories of hard-working Americans who deserve to be able to pay the bills, but can't.

In the fight for a healthier middle class in this country via a higher minimum wage, Labor 411 Founder and Publisher Cherri Senders says instead of looking for national change, voters should turn their attention to local efforts. Read her Op-Ed in the LA Daily News...

By Cherri Senders

While Democrat presidential aspirants have long paid lip service to the gap between rich and poor, Republican contenders usually shy away from the issue, dismissing it as class warfare. Now candidates from both parties seem to agree that the long-imperiled American Dream is among the nation’s greatest challenges, from Donald Trump (“The middle class is getting clobbered in this country”) to Hillary Clinton (“The deck is stacked against the middle class”).

Following the lead of cities like Seattle and Los Angeles, New York’s state wage board recently agreed to gradually increase the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 per hour. The movement for a higher minimum wage certainly resonates with many Americans. According to a recent survey from Victoria Research, for example, 75% of Americans both support a $15 minimum wage and support labor unions.

While the revival of the American manufacturing sector builds momentum, along with the fight to earn a fair wage in this country, there is a component of accountability that sometimes gets overlooked. Are the companies that promise domestic production and good jobs actually following through? One Chinese company that made such promises, Build Your Dreams (BYD), is getting called out.

Union-busting groups have a strong history of stooping to the lowest of lows to try to dissuade workers from enjoying their right to bargain collectively for better wages, benefits, and dignity on the job.

Labor 411 Publisher and Founder Cherri Senders writes in theLA Daily News about how the effort by cities to raise the minimum wage to $15 is a great start, but if we want to pull the middle class out of its slump, we can't stop there.

As Labor Day approaches, the Fight for 15 has taken center stage in a nation where income inequality has finally become front-page news. In recent weeks the country’s largest county government (Los Angeles County) and one of the biggest public university systems in the U.S. (University of California) raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour, while on the East Coast New York moved closer to a $15-per-hour wage for fast food workers and a $15-per-hour minimum wage ballot measure cleared a key hurdle in Washington, D.C.